Presidential Campaign Donations in the Digital Age

November 5, 2012

While about 16 percent of Democrats and Republicans have contributed to a presidential campaign this election season, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to have done so online or via e-mail, text message, or mobile app, a report from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project finds. Presidential Campaign Donations in the Digital Age (3 pages, PDF) found that among the 13 percent of all adults who had reported donating to a presidential candidate as of September, 67 percent had done so in person, over the phone, or by mail, while 50 percent did so online and only 10 percent did so via mobile. The report also found that while 87 percent of Republicans contributed through traditional channels, compared with 57 percent of Democrats, 57 percent and 15 percent of Democrats, respectively, contributed online and via mobile, compared with 34 percent and 6 percent of Republicans.